Samantha Joseph is New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
Last week, in a conversation about safety concerns for Jews in her community, an elected official in Massachusetts told me that if she were killed because of her Jewish identity, she would die knowing that she had stood up for what she believed in — but she did not want to be killed in front of her children.
In another conversation, a fellow Jewish professional told me that he and his wife decided that only one of them would attend any Jewish event because they still had a child in high school who would need at least one parent if the event were attacked.
This level of fear and danger for Jewish Americans is not normal — and it cannot be normalized.
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Over the weekend, a brick with the words “Free Palestine” was thrown through the window of The Butcherie, a family-owned kosher supermarket that has served the Brookline community for more than 50 years. Harming a Jewish business because of what is happening in the Middle East is antisemitic, plain and simple.
This is the latest in a string of attacks on the Jewish community in which the words “Free Palestine” were used while committing violence against Jews. On June 1, an otherwise peaceful Jewish gathering in Boulder, Colo., to raise awareness for the 53 hostages still in Gaza was firebombed by an attacker who allegedly stated that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people” and “Free Palestine.” Fifteen people were injured, many seriously, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. On May 21, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were senselessly killed in a heinous attack at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., by an extremist who also allegedly yelled, “Free, Free Palestine.”
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Violence against Jews does not and never will do anything to “free Palestine.”
Over the past five years, the rate of antisemitic incidents in Massachusetts has surged over 500 percent. The 2024 ADL Audit of Antisemitic Incidents reported 438 incidents across 108 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, a figure that remains high following a spike after the Hamas-led massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. For the first time, more than 50 percent of incidents were Israel-related, in which protesters and perpetrators spewed lies, blood libels, and tried to incite violence by using the slogans “By any means necessary” and “Globalize the Intifada.”
The killing and firebombing of Jews here in the United States is exactly what “Globalize the Intifada” means.
Out of 50 states, Massachusetts ranked third nationally for campus antisemitism. At MIT, protesters occupied spaces with signs equating Zionism with Nazism, chanting slogans calling for Israel’s elimination. At Harvard University, Jewish students report exclusion from campus spaces and activities based on support for Israel. At a Tufts University student government meeting to discuss anti-Israel resolutions, Jewish students were spat on and harassed and told to “Go back to Israel, we don’t want you here.”
Some students have shared that they feel they must hide their Jewish identity in order to participate in campus life.
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Swastikas were graffitied 87 times in Massachusetts last year, traumatizing communities. Synagogues and Jewish organizations faced coordinated bomb threats, creating disruption and concern for congregants and requiring extensive law enforcement responses. There was also a 200 percent increase in New England in incidents targeting visibly Orthodox Jews, including one where an individual yelled “Death to all Jews” at a mother and her children.
Each antisemitic incident leaves lasting scars on individuals and communities, creating ripple effects that extend far beyond the immediate victims. Hate crimes and bias incidents induce fear and cause psychological harm to the entire targeted group. They increase anxiety in the community and erode the sense of safety in participating in every day aspects of public life.
Together, all of us need to confront antisemitism wherever it appears — in schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, and online spaces. We need our government leaders to lead. This means developing a robust statewide strategy that condemns antisemitism as a unique form of hate. Government leaders must also speak out forcefully and unequivocally against antisemitism, regardless of which side of the political aisle it comes from, but especially when it comes from their own party. Selective condemnation sends a message that some forms of Jewish hatred are acceptable.
School and district administrators need to adopt clear protocols to address antisemitism in schools, provide guidance on reporting and responding to incidents, and promote education and awareness to prevent the spread of hate, including comprehensive lessons on the Holocaust and its implications for understanding antisemitism today.
Law enforcement should receive specialized training so they can recognize and respond to antisemitic hate crimes.
And all of us need to push back on the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement everywhere it rears its ugly head. Aiming to delegitimize Israel, the BDS movement uses tactics that bring division and rancor to the communities and institutions they have targeted. When speaking out against a BDS ballot question in my hometown of Somerville, I was harassed and needed a police escort to safely leave a City Council meeting.
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In early June, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned of an “elevated threat” facing the Jewish community, saying that the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict “may motivate other violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators with similar grievances to conduct violence against Jewish and Israeli communities and their supporters.”
The Jewish community is demoralized and fearful. Silence in the face of antisemitism only emboldens those who spread hate.
Stand with us. Speak out against Jewish hatred. Stop looking the other way. Say something.
Our lives may depend on it.
